Criterion Now In Charge of All Things Need for Speed

It's probably not too far out of turn to say that Criterion's rendition of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit was the best thing to bear the name Need for Speed in several years. It's also probably reasonable to say that if you enjoyed Hot Pursuit, you probably felt some twinge of disappointment with the lackluster effort that was last year's Black Box-developed effort, Need for Speed: The Run. Well, you needn't worry about EA playing developer switch-up any longer, as Criterion has officially taken the reins of the Need for Speed series for itself.

The news comes from a Game Informer interview (via Polygon) with Criterion VP Alex Ward, saying, "Our stamp's going to be in everything you see in Need for Speed and Burnout going forward in the future."

"It's not going to be spread anymore across different companies. Different studios have had a crack at it — it's definitely a Criterion gig now," he said. "Going forward now, with Most Wanted and what we'll do in the future [will have], shall we say, a strong Criterion involvement."

Criterion's upcoming update of NFS: Most Wanted drew a number of raves from critics at E3 this year, including our own Jeff Gerstmann. As for Burnout, there hasn't been any major release in the series since the critically acclaimed, but marginally sold Burnout Paradise. Ward, sadly, didn't say anything to G.I. about a potential Burnout sequel, though to be fair, elements of the Burnout games have been seeping their way into Need for Speed ever since Criterion got its hands on the franchise.

I have no complaints personally about this move, as Criterion has yet to really disappoint me with any driving game they've produced. Of course, now we're left to wonder what the hell Black Box is up to now. Skate 4? Helping with NHL stuff? Nothing at all?

It's probably not too far out of turn to say that Criterion's rendition of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit was the best thing to bear the name Need for Speed in several years. It's also probably reasonable to say that if you enjoyed Hot Pursuit, you probably felt some twinge of disappointment with the lackluster effort that was last year's Black Box-developed effort, Need for Speed: The Run. Well, you needn't worry about EA playing developer switch-up any longer, as Criterion has officially taken the reins of the Need for Speed series for itself.

The news comes from a Game Informer interview (via Polygon) with Criterion VP Alex Ward, saying, "Our stamp's going to be in everything you see in Need for Speed and Burnout going forward in the future."

"It's not going to be spread anymore across different companies. Different studios have had a crack at it — it's definitely a Criterion gig now," he said. "Going forward now, with Most Wanted and what we'll do in the future [will have], shall we say, a strong Criterion involvement."

Criterion's upcoming update of NFS: Most Wanted drew a number of raves from critics at E3 this year, including our own Jeff Gerstmann. As for Burnout, there hasn't been any major release in the series since the critically acclaimed, but marginally sold Burnout Paradise. Ward, sadly, didn't say anything to G.I. about a potential Burnout sequel, though to be fair, elements of the Burnout games have been seeping their way into Need for Speed ever since Criterion got its hands on the franchise.

I have no complaints personally about this move, as Criterion has yet to really disappoint me with any driving game they've produced. Of course, now we're left to wonder what the hell Black Box is up to now. Skate 4? Helping with NHL stuff? Nothing at all?

Not that I'm opposed to what they've done with Need for Speed, but it's not Burnout and never will be. And we haven't had a really great Burnout in over six years at this point; Paradise was great for what it was but lacked that extra something that made Takedown and Revenge so awesome. Like defined tracks.

Also, not going to lie, I just wanted to steal the quest from someone.

I think this means whatever remained of Black Box within the EA Burnaby campus is now officially dead. There has not really been a EA Black Box since the studio was closed in late 2008. Some people moved to Burnaby, a bunch refused to, and Black Box has more or less been just an EA Label for the last few years.

I wonder what this means for Shift? Need for Speed was on the box but not in the title for Shift 2, so maybe they will truly spin that out into its own thing. Or maybe not, VGChartz seems to think Shift 2 sold less than a third of the first one so maybe that is dead too.

I just hope this doesn't mean annualized Need for Speed releases out of Criterion.

@iAmJohn: Burnout is dead. The last one did so well that they kicked the developer off the franchise and told them to make NFS games. NFS always sold well despite the quality and Burnout always sold poorly despite the quality. EA just finally had the light go off in their head that they should have the Burnout guys call their games Need For Speed, then they'll have games that aren't shit and sell well.

I wonder what will happen to the old NFS dev? They were kinda sucky and in any other industry they'd be kicked to the curb due to the quality of content they made, but maybe EA will let them stick around like Activision did Treyarch in hopes that one day they'll get their act together and start making games that aren't garbage compared to the other studio making titles in the franchise.

I don't want to sound overly cynic, but this news troubles me a little.

On one hand, I am glad Criterion's skill as developers of high speed vehicles games gets recognized, and I see this as a sign of EA rewarding them for a good track record. On the other hand, we all remember what happened the last time EA choose to put a significant amount of eggs in one basket.

I aways thought Paradise sold decently. And I know a sequel would sell better because the people who bought the game loved it, and the word on it was good enough people who won't buy it now because it's not new would buy a sequel. But hey, let EA kill the NFS name again and have excitement for a new Burnout reach a boiling point.

Hot Pursuit was ok, but not great like some of the earlier PS2 NFS games (pre-Carbon), which I STILL will go back and play and STILL enjoy (I popped in Underground 2 a few months ago and had a blast driving around the city doing events and free races and all the other awesome shit that game had).

There were a few big things that were wrong with the new Hot Pursuit, most notably that CARS DIDN'T FUCKING PULL OVER WHEN THE POLICE HAD THEIR SIRENS ON. HOW RETARDED IS THAT, IT'S A MECHANIC THAT WAS EVEN IN HOT PURSUIT 2. All it did was make the game Burnout-style dodging traffic with the ADDED frustration of being chased by cars actively trying to knock you off the road, or in other words, insanely frustrating, especially with all the blind turns you had to face.

I also didn't like the lack of any kind of outside-event racing besides the online, and I really disliked the lack of various side paths outside of the obvious ones. Hot Pursuit 2 had some badass alternate and off-road routes, including almost entire networks of roads off the paths.

Now I'm not saying that I don't like Criterion games, because I've had a lot of fun playing Burnout Burnout Paradise and Hot Pursuit. But even there, Paradise had a ton of alternate paths and off-road areas to a much greater scale than Hot Pursuit (although it is somewhat sensible, since one can't expect an area like the Quarry to be fit into a pure point-to-point racing game).

If they can fix the problems I had with Hot Pursuit, I won't say a word about it being a Criterion game, but it won't be anything less than at least somewhat disappointing if the same problems are still there.

Personally, I wouldn't mind not having another Paradise style game if it means I get to play more games like Hot Pursuit. That was probably the most fun I've had with a racing game since Outrun 2006.

Actually, I'd much rather not have another Paradise style game, because the open world just never felt suited for the kinds of races that went down in Burnout. If they're going to make another Burnout game, I'd rather it be like Takedown and Revenge with unique, structured courses with their own environments and such. Until then, hells yes to more Criterion Need For Speeds.